well, it’s been a whirlwind of activity. Friday night football game meant I had to show up at our restaurant to work because people stop in on the way to the game. Always a fun time of seeing our friends in the community!
Saturday morning, bright and early, meet up at church. Watch the guys load the trailers and head out to set up a Wellness Clinic in an area of our community where people may not be able to afford good healthcare. We were excited to do this and happy that the temperatures were going to be cooler. Ha! Once that sun came out it came out hard and humidity and sweat were just a part of the day. There was no worrying over hairstyles or sweat marks and drippy faces. It was hot and you just dealt with it. I remember being at a Nascar race on July 4th once for what was then called the Pepsi 400. We were dripping and you got to the point that you just owned it. You had no choice. Same for a time that we were at Fenway Park in beautiful Downtown Boston watching our beloved Red Sox play. It was July 4th (recurring theme, here?) and the hottest day of the year so far in Massachusetts. There wasn’t a lick of breeze and you just ate your hot dog, drank beer, soda and water and prayed your saliva would not completely dry up. Yesterday wasn’t as hot as my Nascar/Red Sox experiences but by the time I got home…..that shirt was wet.
Then off to work for a wedding meeting. Nothing like showing up to a wedding meeting looking like you walked 40 miles to get there. Lovely. But….I did book the wedding!
Saturday night was spent catching up on paperwork. Reworking catering quotes, redesigning the new restaurant’s menu. Figuring out what else needs to be ordered.
Finally, I found my way to my pajamas and my bedroom and I flipped open my laptop (which was hurting for power by this time) and I read. And I kept reading. I read until I finished the book.
My material was the soon-to-be-released book by Jenny Simmons called The Road to Becoming. Jenny can write. She can make a magnolia tree feel like it was created solely to give me and only me, shade. She can make a river bank sound like the most perfect place to go and build a hut and live there forever so that you can hear the river flowing over the smooth and ragged rocks. She writes from her heart and in that, your heart is touched.
Jenny’s story isn’t easy. Well, it starts out that way. She becomes a famous, popular and well-known lead singer for the band Addison Road. As a singer myself, there is nothing I would have loved more. Even being someone’s back up would have made my day. And Jenny was living the dream. Her dream!
And then….life crashed. Crashed and burned. (literally) Life changed in such a way that dreams were crushed under the weight of blown up RV’s, theft, breakdowns and more.
This book is how to build back to being whole again when life doesn’t go as you planned. And Jenny’s plans changed. So much!
We’ve all been there. Thought that life would go one way yet it goes another. I’ve been there. I didn’t think I’d have a special needs child. That was for other people. People who could handle it. I just liked helping special needs children out. I wasn’t supposed to parent one. I was supposed to have a little girl who loved to be swaddled. Who loved to wear pretty bows in her hair and eventually go to the mall with her Mom. I was supposed to have a little girl who grew up and wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, teacher, restaurant owner. A little girl who would find the man of her dreams and we would all love him and he would love us.
I didn’t get all of that. But I did get so much more. Who knew!!
Jenny found out later that she too ended up with so much more. But she realized that she had to wait. She had to be still. “Peace, be still”. “Wait on the Lord”. “Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength”. We know the scriptures. But do we do it?
Yesterday, I was driving to the Wellness Clinic and I drove down a quiet country road, I looked over at a small white and blue house that for some reason, I look at each time I drive by and a man and woman were sitting on the front porch swing having their coffee. I actually laughed out loud in my car thinking, “People really do that??” and then realized that I needed to do that more. I needed to wait. I needed to be still.
This morning at church, my Pastor spoke on being still. Waiting.
Really?? Okay God….are you trying to tell me something? Within a 28 hour period, I felt conviction in this area on three different occasions. Wait. Peace. Be Still.
My Pastor’s message was right on. Jenny’s book….right on. The people swinging on their front porch….right on.
Me? Time to get “right on” with waiting. With being still.
Only with your guidance and help, Lord. Only with You.
Love and Joy…..
Denise~
You can pre-order Jenny Simmon’s book, The Road to Becoming by clicking the link below! (sorry, I haven’t figured out yet how to make the link look pretty!!)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801019559/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0801019559&linkCode=as2&tag=jennsimm09-20&linkId=VB425IE47OOJU7HK
And you can win a 